Judgments of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand on Proceedings to Review Aspects of the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Mount Erebus Aircraft Disaster: C.A. 95/81New Zealand. Court of Appeal
History
Judgments of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand on Proceedings to Review Aspects of the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Mount Erebus Aircraft Disaster: C.A. 95/81
New Zealand. Court of Appeal
Air New Zealand; Aircraft accidents; New Zealand. Royal Commission to Inquire into the Crash on Mount Erebus, Antarctica, of a DC10 Aircraft Operated by Air New Zealand Limited
The circumstances surrounding the use of the 164° 48' E figures were in
issue before the Royal Commission. It was suggested against the airline
they had not been introduced accidentally: that the movement of the
position 25 miles to the west had been deliberate. If that were so it
would seem that a re-calculation of track and distance would have been
needed and made both for the fuel plan and also as a check for purposes
of navigation. However, no re-calculation of track and distance was made
and entered with the 164° 48' co-ordinate. The figures which actually
appear for track and distance to that point remain precisely the track
and distance figures which were shown in the flight plan to the 166° 48'
point for the first flight in February 1977. For purposes of comparison
a calculation to the "false" waypoint was prepared and put before the
Royal Commission. It showed that a direct track from Cape Hallett to
that point is actually 191° and the distance 343 miles. The point is
referred to in paragraph 230 of the Report within a section headed "The
creation of the false McMurdo waypoint and how it came to be changed
without the knowledge of Captain Collins".
In paragraph 229 it is said that submissions had been put to the
Commissioner that "the shifting of the McMurdo waypoint was done
deliberately so as to conform" with a track used by military aircraft
proceeding to Williams Field. Then in paragraph 230 there is a summary
of contrary arguments advanced by members of the navigation section to
support their claim of accident. They include--
"(c) It was pointed out that if the McMurdo waypoint had been
intentionally moved 25 miles to the west, then the flight plan
would have a corresponding change to the track and distance
information which it previously contained. Instead of a true
heading from Cape Hallett to the NDB of 188.9° and a distance of
337 nautical miles, there would have been required, in respect of
the changed McMurdo waypoint, a true heading of 191° and 343
nautical miles. Similar alterations would have had to be made in
respect of a return journey to the true north."
That is the matter already outlined. Concerning it the Commissioner said
in paragraph 234 that there was "considerable validity in this point"
although then he added:
"... the Navigation Section may have thought it not necessary to
alter the track and distance criteria from Cape Hallett to McMurdo
for the reason that the pilots were accustomed to flying on Heading
Select down this sector and not by reference to the fixed heading
programmed into the AINS."
There is a further argument of the navigation section which is
summarized in paragraph 230 (e)--
"It was submitted that an alteration to the McMurdo waypoint to
facilitate better sightseeing was not valid because flight captains
had a discretion to deviate horizontally from the flight plan
track."
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